2 GUARDS INJURED AT MENARD

Two guards at the Menard Correctional Center have been injured by a hot liquid that was thrown at them by inmates.

Prison officials said the incident, which occurred Tuesday, involved inmates who had been confined to their cells since a fight Monday night in which one inmate was killed and 14 others were injured.

The segregation unit guards, who were not identified, were treated at the prison infirmary. One was able to return to work after treatment, and the other was expected to report Wednesday, according to Dwayne Clark, a superintendent at the maximum-security prison in Chester, 350 miles southwest of Chicago.

Menard inmate Nicholas Blue, 26, of Chicago, was stabbed to death about 7 p.m. Monday in the recreational yard in a fight involving 50 to 75 inmates belonging to rival gangs, Clark said.

Blue, who was serving 30 years for two armed-robbery convictions and had served previous prison sentences for aggravated kidnaping, rape and burglary, died of stab wounds in the back and side. There are no suspects.

At least 15 homemade knives have been found in a search of one cellhouse that was continuing Tuesday, he said.

Two inmates were hospitalized at Chester Memorial Hospital with stab wounds, and 12 others were treated at the prison infirmary after the fight Monday; about 35 inmates initially complained of injuries.

Prison officials said the fight began after one inmate was tripped by another while running on the yard`s jogging track. A shouting match escalated into a fight, and that, in turn, escalated into a brawl involving rival gangs. No prison employees were hurt at that time. Officials said 16 warning shots were fired by guards trying to keep the remaining 200 inmates in the recreational yard from joining the fight, which lasted 15 minutes.

Blue`s death was the second inside the state prison system this month. Robert L. Taylor, 44, a superintendent at the Pontiac Correctional Center, died of stab wounds inflicted by inmates in his South Cellhouse office Sept. 3.

At least eight Pontiac guards have been injured by inmates attacking them or throwing things at them since Taylor`s death.

The Pontiac prison`s 1,739 inmates remain on ''deadlock,'' confined to their cells, during the investigation of Taylor`s death.

Clark and representatives of the prison guards` union said there was no apparent link between the most recent incidents of violence at Pontiac and Menard.

''But generally when there is trouble at one place, we`ll have trouble at another-the whole system seems to get uptight,'' said Henry Bayer, associate director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.